The International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), which deals with technical and scientific aspects of wine-making, corroborated Genest's comments and pointed to a report published earlier this week.

In the OIV report, the organization says that "world wine production has increased significantly in 2013 and consumption is stabilizing."

It says wine production has returned to strong 2006 levels "despite the persistent decline... of the global vineyard surface area, particularly in Italy and Spain."

The report points to increases in production in Italy, France and Portugal, and record production in Romania, Chile and New Zealand.

The organization acknowledges that overall, between 2006 and 2013, some 300,000 hectares of vines - an area larger than Luxembourg - were lost worldwide.

But "the 2013 harvest has been fairly significant thanks to a productivity which continues to increase despite the abrupt stop caused by adverse climate conditions in 2012", said Federico Castellucci, OIV chief.